You may not know that Missouri is rich with vineyards. We took a side trip to Hermann for the wineries and a fabulous lunch at at the Stonehill Winery vintage restaurant. I didn’t snap a pix of our plates but told Ron I should have taken one of our empty plates! I had the wild mushroom strudle and I think I said “ummm” with every bite. HERE is their full menu. I think this is someplace we need to go back to and spend more time.
We returned from a short trip to Illinois to see my dad. We played tourist along the way and took some side trips. Arthur, Illinois is the heart of Amish country. When we lived in Sullivan, IL we made frequent trips to Arthur for the bakery and meat market. I was a traditional quilter at the time and Millers Dry Goods out in the country was always on the agenda. My quilts always took ribbons in the Arthur and Rockome Gardens quilt shows. So the trip was nostalgic.
Below are a couple of inspiration photos taken along the business district. I love the repeats of lines and shapes.
I rescued a sadly felted pure wool blanket at the thrift. Ron thought I was cazy as I danced to the car. It was sweltering out but I felt a chill coming.
I cut it into shawl, scarf sizes for eco printing and natural dyeing. This one was bundled with fresh leaves and put into a logwood bath. Love the way it turned out! I’m thinking it will go in my Etsy shop soon.
Don’t you just love when a problem is solved? We didn’t want to use a foreign color on this piece. All the commercial threads were just wrong. While getting samples ready for a presentation on natural dyeing to the Master Gardeners, I trimmed loose threads. Light bulb moment! The threads are from the same indigo vat we dyed the background in. The stitching can continue!
There are always lots of projects beconning to me. One that hasn’t had any up close and personal time lately is natural dyeing. I told myself I need to use the dyed fabric from last year so I would walk by the dye studio and wistfully whisper …next year. But then the flowers and leaves are ending their cycle for the year and I caved in to the magic of nature. It had to be now or way too much later.
I don’t chase a perfect leaf imprint like many natural/eco print artists do. If they happen amid the marbling of color created during the process, that’s a bonus.
JP Dawes Contemporary Artist 